IMPORTANT POINT
Extra judicial confession by its very nature is a weak type of evidence and a duty is cast upon the court to look for corroboration from other reliable evidence on record.

JUDGMENT

S.P. Kurdukar, J.-The Sessions Court of East Thanjavur at Nagappattinam as also the High Court at Madras by their concurrent judgments and orders found the appellant guilty of the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 392 IPC and accordingly sentenced him to suffer life imprisonment on first count and RI for ten years on second count. Both the sentences were directed to run concurrently. The appellant by Special Leave has filed this appeal to this Court.

2. The facts of the prosecution case lie in a very narrow compass and shorn of details may be summerised as under :-

Panchapagesa Iyer, a stone deaf in his sixties was staying with his wife Mohambal since deceased in Mel Agraharam in Mudikondan. The couple had no child. They owned some agricultural lands which were supervised by Mohambal with the help of appellant. They belonged to an affluent family having various jewellery items of jewels, diamonds and gold. The appellant was said to be a trusted servant and a man of her confidence. Mohambal was fond of wearing the jewellery on her person. The appellant was a young boy of 29 years at the time of occurrence. The appellant being trusted servant had an easy access in the house of his master and was friendly with the couple. Rangam (PW2) is the resident of the same village and happened to be a close relative of Mohambal and has been residing just opposite her house. Mohambal used to attend to her house hold duties in addition to the supervising of her agricultural lands. The appellant has got a sister called Bharani Ammal (PW9) who had come to the said village for some medical treatment. Bharani Ammal (PW9) was unmarried and the appellant was trying to find out a match for her. For the said marriage, the appellant needed some money and 14 sovereigns. The appellant being an agricultural labourer was unable to collect money. It was this need which according to the prosecution made the appellant to commit the present crime.

3. It is alleged by the prosecution that Mohambal very often used to sit on the steps of her house in the evening and used to spend sometime in chitchatting with the neighbours and other acquainted passer-byes from the road. At about 8.30 p.m., on August 24, 1986, the appellant had come to the house of Mohambal and at that time, she was wearing ear rings and nose ring studded with diamonds. Some gold ornaments were also worn by her. Late in the evening, when there was full on the road, the appellant is alleged to have throttled Mohambal and thereafter carried the dead body to a nearby shed at a distance of about 100 yds. and tied a saree around her neck and kept her hanging to the rafter in the said shed.

4. On August 25, 1986, in the morning, another maid servant Lakshmi @ Chappi (PW4) as usual came to the house for doing house hold duties but at that time, Mohambal was not found got up as usual. After finishing her work, she went to the house of Rangam (PW 2) and told him that Mohambal was not seen in the house. It is alleged by the prosecution that Narayanan (PW 1), Rangam (PW 2), Krishnamoorthy (PW 3), Vaidyanathan (PW 5) and Savithri (PW6) and other people in that locality started searching for Mohambal. In the meantime, Chappi (PW 4) came to the house of Mohambal and told the crowd that she could not be traced anywhere. Search continued and at about 10.00 a.m., they noticed the dead body of Mohambal inside the cattle shed in a hanging position. The said cattle shed belonged to Vanchinathan Iyer. Narayanan (PW1) who is the son of Ramamoorthy Iyer and a cousin of Panchapagesa Iyer. He and other prosecution witnesses noticed that valuable ornaments were missing from the dead body of Mohambal. Narayanan (PW1) therefore, went to the police station at Nannilam and gave the complaint Ex. P-3. Kali Das (PW16) after recording the FIR proceeded to the scene of offence and after reaching there at about 11.30 a.m. commenced the investigation. After completing the inquest panchanama, the dead body was sent to